Contents

Understand

The Yangtze has been an important transportation route with major cities along its banks for several thousand years.

Chinese civilisation first developed along the Yellow River (Huang He) and shortly thereafter spread to two other major areas — the lower Yangtze basin and the rich agricultural lands of Sichuan a thousand km or more up the river. As the main link between those areas, the Yangtze has been important through most of Chinese history.

Cities

Many of China's greatest cities lie along the Yangtze. Except for Shanghai — which was unimportant until the 19th century China trade made it one of the world's great cities — all of these have existed for millennia. Listed from the mouth up the river, they are:

Shanghai, great trading port, financial and fashion capital of modern China

Suzhou, famous for gardens and canals, abode of scholars, painters and poets

Nanjing, national capital under several dynasties, rivals Beijing for historical importance, capital of Jiangsu

Wuhan, important in 19th century trade and modern industry, capital of Hubei

The river extends far beyond Chongqing; its headwaters are deep in the Tibetan mountains. Few tourists doing the Yangtse route follow the river much beyond Chongqing. However, travellers on the Yunnan tourist trail see some of the upper reaches of the river near Lijiang.

Two other ancient and important cities are not actually on the Yangtze, but readily accessible from it:

Chengdu, capital of Sichuan — near Chongqing and on one of the Yangtze's tributaries

Of course there are dozens of smaller cities as well.

Prepare

Get in

Shanghai and Nanjing have major international airports and connections to almost anywhere. The other major cities on the route have airports and good connections within China, but not many international flights. KLM fly Chengdu-Amsterdam, but that may be the only exception.

Go

The most famous part of this route is the sensational boat cruise through the Three Gorges area between Chongqing and Wuhan. With the recent enormous Three Gorges Dam project, this route has changed considerably but it is still definitely worth doing. However be careful of the different types of boats and classes within those boats. Traveling on a Chinese tourist boat in 'first class' may not be your idea of 'first class' (one traveller complained of "rats everywhere"). In addition, the only choice for food may be the boat itself for up to 3-days. As such, bring supplies, particularly snacks and drinks for the voyage.

While one reviewer suggested not to take the Chinese Tourist boat (since they stop at destinations at 6am, expecting all passengers to get out and look at the scenery, then arriving at 4am at the final destination and throwing everybody off the boat), another reviewer had a positive experience despite not speaking any Chinese.

Other tips:

rent a private cabin if possible (handy for the many relaxing and lazy periods travelling down river)

bring supplies to wash and dry clothes (detergent and clothes line with clothes-line pins) as this will be convenient in your room (although clothes will dry slowly with the humidity)

take photos/ video at dusk or dawn when the haze from air pollution is not as pronounced

research the route before travelling so that you have some idea about the sites your boat will stop at and their significance (e.g. Fengdu, the City of Ghosts)

keep a "day bag" packed for those unexpected times when the boat stops for a site (rather than having to look for your camera, etc. and possibly missing the trip with your fellow boat travellers)

The lower Yangtze areas — from Wuhan down through Nanjing and Suzhou to Shanghai — traveling by boat is also an option, but here it is not essential. There are good rail and road connections throughout the area.